Lowell-area autobody shops to use grants

LOWELL -- The Toxics Use Reduction Institute will be working with autobody shops in Lowell and some other Bay State cities to reduce use of harmful chemicals after receiving an $82,000 federal grant.

TURI at the University of Massachusetts Lowell recently received the grant from the Environmental Protection Agency's New England region.

The funding is intended to educate autobody shops around Lowell, Springfield, Holyoke, Fall River and New Bedford about toxic chemicals commonly used in the industry and help them switch to safer alternatives. Toluene and acetone, which are used for spray-gun washing, are known to cause damage to the central nervous system, according to TURI. Brake cleaning aerosol products typically contain perchloroethylene, which is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. It may also cause liver, kidney or central-nervous-system damage, TURI says.

The grant will enable TURI to assist 30 auto shops. TURI's staff and field workers will visit the cities to identify the shops that are willing to participate in the program. During the free three-month program that starts in January, the participants will receive safer brake-cleaning products or paintgun-washing systems as well as before and after air monitoring study and technical support.

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"The biggest concerns we hear about switching to safer products is that they won't work as well and they will be harder to use," Joy Onasch, community and small business program manager of at TURI, said in the press release. "That's why the trial period with the safer alternatives and the technical assistance is critical to success."

The program is modeled after the Boston Public Health Commission's Safe Shops Project. At Moreno Auto Body in Roxbury, one of the participants, the before-and-after indoor air-quality monitoring showed a 94 percent decrease in the presence of acetone and an 88 percent decrease in the presence of toluene, according to TURI.

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